Thailand’s junta-backed legislature has rejected controversial proposals for a new constitution drawn up by a drafting committee that was also chosen by the country’s military rulers.

The consequence of one junta-approved body turning down a draft submitted by another junta-picked grouping is that the military that staged a coup last year now seems certain to remain in control until at least 2017.

The rejected constitution would have cemented the generals’ grip on power even after elections are held by allowing a military-dominated panel to take over from parliament and the prime minister in any future times of “national crisis”.

The document also allowed for the appointment of an unelected prime minister and for most of the seats in the legislature’s upper house to be allocated by the military rather than chosen by voters.

A police officer uses a mobile phone to take a selfie with fellow officers before a pro-democracy rally against the military-backed constitution Photo: Reuters There are few issues that unite Thailand’s querulous politicians. But a clear majority in the legislature that has been operating under the junta voted on a Sunday to reject a charter that critics have said would have granted “ultimate power” to the military.

However, that act of defiance by the National Reform Council will extend the junta’s power for the foreseeable future.

Another panel will now be given six months to draw up another constitution. There will then be a public referendum on the draft document and only after that would new elections be held. That timetable will now extend military rule until 2017 at the earliest, political analysts said.

The junta and its constitutional drafting panel said they wanted to produce a new charter that would restore stability to the country after a decade of tumultuous political conflict, including two coups.

The document was also drawn up to ensure that there would be no return to power by Thaksin Shinawatra, the exiled former prime minister and telecommunications billionaire, or his allies.

Mr Thaksin, a populist leader who was accused by his critics of corruption and abuse of power, was deposed in a 2006 coup. His sister Yingluck Shinawatra was the prime minister thrown out of office when the military seized power again last year.

Kamnoon Sidhisamarn, the spokesman for the constitution drafting committee, said that a new charter needed to reduce the role of political parties as Thailand had been dogged by instability since the end of the absolute monarchy in 1932.

"There have been elections and coups during all these 83 years,” he said. “In the past 10 years, we had two coups already. And two political parties came to power but they couldn't solve problems.”

But critics of the constitution argued that there would be no point staging a "meaningless election" under the new charter, even though their stance has effectively guaranteed a longer military regime.

The vote came at a time of growing uncertainty about the country's future once the reign of ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 87, comes to an end.